Shai Reshef

Founder and CEO in Universidad de las Personas (UoPeople)

Shai Reshef is the Founder & President of University of the People (UoPeople). UoPeople is the world’s first tuition-free, non-profit online academic institution dedicated to the democratization of higher education. Grounded in the belief that knowledge is a key ingredient of world peace, UoPeople provides universal access to collegiate-level studies, despite student’s geographic and financial constraints.

An educational entrepreneur, Reshef has 20 years of experience in the international education market. From 1989 to 2005, he served as Chairman of the Kidum Group, a for-profit educational services company. Between 2001 and 2004, Reshef also chaired KIT eLearning, the eLearning partner of the University of Liverpool and the first online university outside of the United States.

Reshef has been widely recognized for his work with UoPeople. In 2009, Reshef was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, selected by OneWorld as one of its ‘People of 2009’ and awarded an Ashoka fellowship. He also joined UN-GAID as a High-level Adviser. In August 2010, on behalf of UoPeople, Reshef was granted membership to the Clinton Global Initiative. The following month, recognized for ”taking the world to school”, Reshef was selected by The Huffington Post readership as the Ultimate Game Changer in Education.

An expert on the intersection of education and technology, Reshef has spoken internationally at numerous conferences including the DLD; WEF; EG; and Google‘s Higher Education Summit. He has also lectured several times at Universities including Yale, on the future of digital education and Harvard, on technology in education. Reshef holds a M.A. in Chinese Politics from University of Michigan.